The Secular and Worship

I have become interested in Eastern Orthodox theology over the last couple of years and have gained an important perspective that the Western church, both Roman Catholic and Protestant, does not provide. Alexander Schmemann, an Orthodox theologian, scholar, and priest wrote a very good book in the mid-60's entitled For the Life of the World. He has helped me to see more clearly that the whole world is God's world, that the division between the secular and the holy is a false division, and that this division has worked its mischief in the church and the way that we live and experience life.

What I found particularly interesting and helpful was his definition of secularism. At the time the book was published the issue of the church becoming more secular, as for example Harvey Cox's book, The Secular City, was popular. Schmemann writes, "Secularism...is above all a negation of worship. I stress:--not of God's existence, not of some kind of transcendence and therefore of some kind of religion. If secularism in theological terms is a heresy, it is primarily a heresy about man. It is the negation of man as a worshiping being...: the one for whom worship is the essential act which both 'posits' his humanity and fulfills it."

Secularism is the negation of worship. Interesting. The more I thought about it, the more true it seemed to me. The older I become, the more I understand that humans are worshiping beings, and the fact that one does not believe in God does not expunge the inner drive for worship. One just finds a different object to worship and disguises it with various sophisticated strategies.

What do you think about his definition of secularism? Does it make sense to you or would you define it a different way? Does it make any difference?